Letters-to-the-Editor

IF IT WASN’T for low information voters, there would not be a Democrat Party! – J.K.A. …

THE PROBLEM WITH the wacky left – i.e. environmentalists and evolutionists – is that they are obviously educated above their intelligence. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools – Bible. – J.C.

A key part of the Conservative Lie is self-deception: to believe Fox and Lush Limbaugh (is he still alive?), ad nauseum, that the lies they repeat endlessly are facts and no other source is to be trusted. Well, except for the Bible. Here are two stars who have swallowed the lies and washed them down with the kook-aid. God save us.

LAST WEEK IN SpeakUp! there were two violently anti-environmental submissions. They contained six sentences, one of which was totally false, one was a rhetorical question, and four amounted to name-calling.

The only sentence of substance claimed that “we have millions of miles of pipelines and railroads that carry oil and gasoline without incident.”

On pipelines alone, a Wall Street Journal review found that there were 1,400 pipeline spills and accidents in the U.S. in 2010-2013 – 350 per year, and four of every five pipeline accidents are discovered by local residents, not the companies that own the pipelines.

As far as I can determine, there’s a little over 300,000 miles of major natural gas pipelines, with another 1.8 million miles of lines that come off those and deliver to cities. There are only about 100,000 miles of gathering and distribution pipelines for oil.

Unfortunately, that’s the only sentence of the six that can be fact-checked, because all the rest are name-calling or extremely obvious exaggeration. For example, I consider myself an environmentalist, but I don’t think we should go live in caves, just that we should be a bit more careful with our surroundings.

Another sentence claims environmentalists have used “falsified science and pagan Gaia mysticism.” Wow. Science and mysticism.

If you want to rebut the arguments of environmentalists, you might try:

If you are ticketed for speeding, a GPS device will be attached to your vehicle. When you exceed the posted speed limit anywhere, the device will shriek until you slow down. Data from the GPS will be analyzed automatically and additional fines generated automatically each time you exceed the speed limit. If you drive for 30 days without exceeding the speed limit, the device will be removed. After a second ticket, the device remains attached for 60 days; third, 90, etc.

After 3 speeding tickets, your driver’s license expires and you must apply and pass the test within 30 days.

If you feel you were unjustly ticketed or have a valid excuse, you may appeal the ticket. A judge will decide if your explanation merits dismissing the ticket. However, the device will still be attached. Hopefully, you won’t have a second emergency within 30 days.

This system could allow some leeway, such as ignoring speeding within a few miles per hour over the limit or for less than a minute (such exceptions would still be tracked, just not taken as violations). The system could be stricter in neighborhoods, laxer on Interstates.

Aggregate data from this system will be made public (without identification). All of us will be able to see which routes are more routinely abused and, therefore, are most dangerous to pedestrians, animals, and other drivers. Traffic planners will use this data to plan changes to the speed limit or the road.

Civil libertarians are always free to fuck themselves. Driving is not a right. Driving is a privilege replete with obligations, including the obligation to drive safely.

IT COMES AS no surprise that the Democrat/Liberal/Progressive party vehemently opposes any educational reform in New Mexico. Their future lies almost exclusively in the under-educated, government-dependent low-information voter. – R.D.H.

“PROGRESSIVE” IS CODE for communist/socialist. “Moving forward…” — this expression is commonly used by socialist/communist liberal Democrats. The Forward was the name of the communist newsletter published by Comrade Karl Marx. Words mean things. – J.C.G.

I find the first ironic because it is the Conservative movement that denies science and opposes formal education. They would have schools teach prayer and how great (white) America was. As for the second, I assume he has been in a coma for 60 years (or just listens to Fox, another sign of how important “information” is to Conservatives). peace, mjh

Today (Tuesday, Oct. 1), my wife and I went to the Sandoval County Bureau of Elections office to change our voter registration affiliation from independent — our status since we first became eligible to vote more than a half-century ago — to Democrat.

We did so because the Republican Party has ceded all power to the most radical element within its ranks — a noisy, anarchic clique of political yahoos whose “my way or the highway” attitudes have reduced Congress to a state of impotency, as well as making considerable mischief in state and local governments. (Rio Rancho is a prime example of the latter.)

Hence, our new political affiliation. We are determined to be part of the effort to save the U.S. from feckless, irresponsible zealotry. Unless a viable alternative one day arises, we will maintain that affiliation, as we await the day when Republicans complete their party’s self-destruction.

It cannot come soon enough. It’s a sad end for a once-grand old party, but we see no hope for a turnabout.

Unbelievable. A small cabal has shut down the most powerful country in the world.

A handful of fanatics has forced a vote 44 times, spending about 100 million dollars to do so, to repeal a law that will save the lives of tens of thousands of Americans suffering from easily treated medical issues.

Thanksgiving Day is a holiday which has a much longer history than most Americans realize.

The first recorded act of giving thanks by Europeans on this continent occurred April 30, 1598, as the Oñate muster arrived on the banks of El Rio Bravo, the Rio Grande. That was almost a quarter century before the Pilgrims anchored the Mayflower at Plymouth Rock on Nov. 21, 1620.

Are you hoping to retire before you’re eligible for Medicare? Planning a career switch or move to self-employment? Being laid off from a job with a group insurance plan? Working at a job without health insurance benefits? You’re healthy, so buying individual health insurance will be easy, right? Wrong!

Presbyterian, my current provider, and Lovelace referred me to the high-risk pool, which charges a premium between $540 and $679 per month, up to triple the cost of an individual health plan. I am stunned that this is my only option for insurance coverage, given my overall good health.

My only medical issue is high cholesterol, which is genetic. Low triglycerides, high good cholesterol, and no evidence of blockage or inflammation greatly reduce my risk of future health problems. As I also disclosed on my insurance application, my car was rear-ended in 2009 and I had a back injury, which fully resolved without surgery or prescription medicine. I have had no back complaints since late 2010.

Both companies cited “history of back injury” (despite resolution) in denying me coverage. Presbyterian added “height/weight guidelines,” whatever that means, and high cholesterol. Neither application asked about exercise or diet. If a healthy person like me is ineligible for individual health insurance, there are millions of less-healthy folks who cannot qualify either.

This is not a new problem. President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed a type of universal health care. In his plan, private insurance companies that extended benefits to uninsured Americans would be reimbursed by the federal government for excessive losses. Congress rejected his plan. Despite repeated efforts by elected officials to safeguard the health of Americans, almost 60 years later more Americans than ever have no health insurance.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of people without health insurance coverage rose to 49.9 million in 2010. Many people, who live from paycheck to paycheck but have incomes higher than poverty level, simply cannot afford health insurance after paying for rent, food and utilities. Others like me may be willing buyers of insurance, but unable to find a willing seller. In his book “The Healing of America,” T.R. Reid reports that 22,000 Americans die annually from lack of access to health care.

The federal Affordable Care Act, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, will require people to either purchase basic health insurance or pay a tax. But starting January 1, 2014, insurance companies will also be required to accept all insurance applicants, regardless of their health status and pre-existing conditions. In 2014 healthy people like me, as well as cancer survivors and others, should be able to purchase health insurance without a penalty for gender or pre-existing conditions.

According to Reid, private insurance companies that are required to cover everyone in other countries have continued to operate profitably, due in part to the large influx of new members paying premiums and cost controls on services.

As a healthy person who has been denied health insurance, I know that our country has serious problems to resolve. If members of every political party can cease their posturing in the health care debate and focus instead on supporting affordable health insurance for all Americans, we can compel this country to change its inexcusable position as the only developed nation in the world without access to health care for all its citizens. Is that too much to ask?